Blogs

Jeter's Next Big Swing

"I don't miss playings," says the retired Yankee, as the press-shy captain leads website The Players' Tribune, where DeAndre Jordan and Tiger Woods break news (sorry, ESPN) and backers are betting on a media home run

Daily PDF

Glenn Beck: I Hope 'Dangerous' 'Noah' Is a 'Massive Failure' (Video)

The radio host insinuated that church groups should shun the movie -- which he has not seen -- and deemed the title "a slap in the face" to those who take the Bible seriously.

Paramount might have a tough time getting right-leaning Christians to see Noah, if what Glenn Beck told his estimated 10 million listeners Friday morning is any indication.

Beck insinuated church groups should shun the movie, which he called “dangerous,” and said that he hopes the film is a “massive failure.”

“I haven’t seen it nor will I, because it’s a slap in the face," the host said. Beck read lengthy portions of The Hollywood Reporter’s film review then pronounced his opinion that the movie was “hostile to God" and it teaches "planet over man.”

"This movie, if it becomes successful – if we take our churches and we all go and everything else – our children will look at that as being the Noah story, and no matter what you say, they will believe this version over the version that mommy and daddy are telling them or that old, dusty Bible is telling them, because this one will come alive in their imaginations. It is dangerous disinformation," Beck said.

The conservative media mogul suggested that if a family wanted to see a fanciful religious movie, he’d rather recommend Oh God or Evan Almighty, because Noah “is being packaged as if it will look and feel like it must have felt and looked. And no thank you. No thank you. I’m not putting that into my mind, and more importantly I’m not putting it into my kids’ minds.”

“I hope that Noah is a massive failure. I hope it is a massive, massive failure,” Beck said.

And if it is, he has a prediction: “If it fails, here’s the next thing that will happen – Hollywood will say, ‘you just can’t make Biblical films because there’s no appetite for them.’ No, you make them to reflect the truth.”

Paramount responded Friday by stressing that Beck hasn't seen the film and that many religious leaders who have are recommending it.

"Noah is big and bold and entertaining, and without a doubt pro-faith and pro-God," said Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the NHCLC Hispanic Evangelical Association. "The film expresses Biblical themes of good and evil; sin and redemption; justice and mercy," said Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family.

Also, Raymond Flynn, former ambassador to the Vatican, raved about Noah in an article in the Boston Herald. "When people watch this movie, I am convinced it will lead to a broader discussion about the Bible among believers and non-believers alike," he wrote. "The last time a movie was made about a big and famous boat, people throughout the world wanted to learn more about the Titanic."

Noah, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Russell Crowe, opens wide next Friday. The film is one of several high-profile Biblical projects this year, including Son of God, out now, and Exodus starring Christian Bale and due in December.